She’s a little girl taking giant steps in very courageous battle - and Port Adelaide supporters have the chance to help her continue on her journey, while having a great night and supporting their club as well.
The Power’s Italian Night is back in 2012, with the Port Adelaide Football Club teaming up with the Calabrese Benevolent Association for a night of food, fun and live entertainment including a performance by nationally-acclaimed comedian Joe Avati.
To be held on Wednesday 16 May, the event is a fundraiser for the club which this year will share the proceeds with Emily Carabetta and her family.
Tickets are just $125 per person and will serve up a night of fun, a four-course feast, premium drinks and live entertainment including a performance by nationally-acclaimed comedian Joe Avati. A Power player or coach will represent the club at every table. There will also be an auction of exclusive items, including Port Adelaide Football Club memorabilia.
BOOK tickets here
Emily was born with Treacher-Collins Syndrome, a rare disorder which causes severe under-development of the head and face.
After the first three years of her life, during which her father Frank and mother Rose made an seemingly endless and heart-breaking search for help, the Sydney family was introduced to the Adelaide-based Australian Craniofacial Unit.
In just two years, Professor David David and the unit’s internationally renowned staff have changed this little girl’s life.
Now five, Emily started school at the beginning of 2012 and is thriving, sharing the playground with her classmates and older brother Max and progressing from communicating by signing to communicating by speech.
“Emily has settled in really fast and her teachers are doing a great job and the other kids are fantastic,” Mr Carabetta said.
“She’s fully integrated into a mainstream class with other kids, but she gets some help from a private speech pathologist once a week and two specialist support teachers from the Catholic Education Office’s Sensory Impairment Program a few hours each day.”
Emily’s family credits the Australian Craniofacial Unit with turning her life around, with her first operation extending her jaw and allowing her to breathe and eat normally. With that, she could begin to speak and from that came her ability to extend her learning and communicate with the wider, non-signing community.
“From the minute that we started seeing Professor David and the team in Adelaide, they gave us the light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr Carabetta said.
“They convinced us of what was possible. They laid out a path for Emily for the short and medium term where before no one had been able to give us that. With Emily, we all got the confidence to look forward and deal with what she was going to go through.
“That was when she was three. They were able to let her live without the Tracheostomy tube which she needed to breathe but which in turn made her prone to respirator infections. They gave her the ability to talk and because of that she can learn, she can go to school, she can communicate.
“We very greatly feel that the Australian Craniofacial Unit has changed her Emily’s life and ours.”
But it’s far from the end of the road for Emily and she faces ongoing surgery until her early 20s, with the next major procedure scheduled for later this year.
To assist with the extensive travel, accommodation and ongoing medical bills Emily will face, Port Adelaide and the Calabrese Benevolent Association are sharing the proceeds of Italian Night with the Carabetta family.
Port Adelaide held Italian Nights between 2005-10 and in 2011 contributed to a separate Calabrese Benevolent Association fundraiser in support of Emily.
The 2012 Italian night is under the theme of Le Due Famiglie - the two families - representing the Port Adelaide and Italian families.
Emily and her family will be the guests of honour on the night.
Don’t miss your chance at a fantastic evening. Book now by clicking here or calling the Port Adelaide Football Club on 1300 GO PAFC (1300 467 232).
